Ron Belinko of Maryland to Receive the NIAAA Professional Development Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Bruce Whitehead

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (November 18, 2011) — Ron Belinko, CMAA, who retired last year after 17 years as coordinator of athletics for the Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS), is the 2011 recipient of the Frank Kovaleski Professional Development Award presented by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA).

Belinko will receive his award December 13 in Indianapolis, Indiana, during banquet festivities at the 42nd annual National Athletic Directors Conference conducted jointly by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and the NIAAA.

The Frank Kovaleski Professional Development Award is presented each year to an NIAAA member who possesses and has contributed to the vision of professional development – the legacy of Frank Kovaleski – and who has made significant contributions and demonstrated excellence in professional development at the local, state and national levels. Kovaleski was director of the NIAAA, as well as assistant director of the NFHS, from 1989 until his retirement in 2005. He was responsible for starting the NIAAA Leadership Training Program in 1996 and expanding the NIAAA Certification Program in 1999.

Belinko retired last year after a remarkable 45-year career as a teacher, coach and administrator in the Baltimore Public Schools, including the final 17 years as coordinator of athletics. He continues to serve the BCPS today as an interscholastic athletics consultant.

After graduating from the University of Baltimore in 1966, Belinko coached football, wrestling and lacrosse and was a physical education teacher at the junior high and high school levels for 12 years before moving into athletic administration. He later earned his master’s degree from Morgan State University.

Belinko spent 12 years at Baltimore (Maryland) Overlea High School, including five as athletic director, and then moved into the central office in 1983 as supervisor of physical education and athletics in the Division of Instruction and assumed the athletic coordinator position in 1993.

At the state level, Belinko devoted countless hours to the Maryland State Athletic Directors Association (MSADA) and the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA). He was NIAAA Leadership Training coordinator for the MSADA for 16 years and he was an instructor for 13 Leadership Training Courses. He taught Leadership Training Courses during professional development days at schools throughout the Baltimore area.

Since 1983, Belinko has served on the MPSSAA Board of Control and Classification Committee, and he has been on the MPSSAA Executive Council since 1991. He also was MPSSAA president (1994-96), director of the MPSSAA Lacrosse Committee for 26 years and director of the state wrestling tournament for 11 years.

Nationally, Belinko is chair of NIAAA Leadership Training Course 707 and has been a national presenter for LTC 502 and 707. He also is vice-chair of the NIAAA Certification Committee. Belinko has given numerous workshop presentations at the National Athletic Directors Conference and initiated the NIAAA Outreach Grant for the city of Baltimore’s athletic directors. He also served seven years on the NFHS Boys Lacrosse Rules Committee, including four years as chair from 2003 to 2007.

Among his numerous awards, Belinko has been inducted into the Maryland State Wrestling Hall of Fame (1987), the Eastern Technical High School Athletic Hall of Fame (2000) and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (2004). He received the NFHS Citation in 2004 and the NIAAA State Award of Merit in 2007.